Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Wednesday Links

- mike florio says every party is to blame, and it's this confluence of events that lead us to where we are now. (see his post on 10:50 a.m. EST, November 9, 2005)

- les bowen on TO's apology. i think he captures it just about right. what was the real motivation behind the apology? when you combine TO's apology with rosenpuke's positioning, that performance was clearly not aimed at the philadelphia eagles. that performance was for the arbiter and other teams. (incidentally, whenever people mention "arbitration" they always use it in combination with "arbitrator" instead of "arbiter." why use a word with more syllables and more letters? it's extra work for no added benefit. "arbiter" is more efficient, just like "use" is more efficient than "utilize" and "sate" is more efficient than "satiate".)

Rosenhaus angrily denied reports that he would like to divorce his high-maintenance client. He was hired in April with the idea that he would be able to pressure the Eagles into revising Owens' 7-year, $48.97 million contract. But while Rosenhaus was proclaiming how proud he was to stand "110 percent" behind T.O., it wasn't clear that the opposite was true - when Channel 6's David Henry asked what Rosenhaus has done for Owens, other than get him suspended, Owens, standing behind Rosenhaus and out of the agent's view, winked and smiled.

It seemed somehow typical of T.O. that he finally showed he was capable of remorse, and even of introspection, only when it was too late to save his Eagles career. Eagles sources have said that if Owens had been ready to stand before his teammates and express contrition on Saturday, he never would have even been suspended. But Owens is said to have refused to speak to the team on Saturday, provoking what was then a suspension of undefined length, and he apparently had nothing to say on Sunday, when the Eagles struggled through a 17-10 loss to the Redskins without him.

- phil sheridan's take. this may be the best column he's ever written.

Here's what the mayor of Doesn't-Get-It-Ville needs to understand. Sorry for the consequences is not the same as sorry for the actions. Feeling bad about your poor outcast self is not the same as taking responsibility.

It will take more than firing Owens to remove the toxic cloud he has left behind. McNabb, his primary victim, will have to operate under that cloud long after Owens has moved on to whatever team is next seduced by his talents.

That's the real injustice here. It's not what happened to poor Terrell Owens. It's not the hole he leaves behind in the Eagles' offense. It is the damage he did in the months before he suddenly, miraculously got a conscience yesterday.

No one is writing off Rosenhaus, but yesterday certainly was a watershed day for him. Today should be another. Owens was dismissed from the Eagles for "conduct detrimental to the team." He should dismiss Rosenhaus for "mismanagement of a superstar."

4 Comments:

(incidentally, whenever people mention "arbitration" they always use it in combination with "arbitrator" instead of "arbiter." why use a word with more syllables and more letters? it's extra work for no added benefit. "arbiter" is more efficient, just like "use" is more efficient than "utilize" and "sate" is more efficient than "satiate".)

The words are usually synonyms, however, there is a subtle difference. An arbitrator gets his or her power from the consent of the parties. An arbiter gets his or her power from expertise in the field.

Sprts arbitrators are probably both, but in the context of determining a player/team dispute, they are arbitrators.